Kamui Kobayashi was left reflecting on what might have been in the F1 2011 Canadian Grand Prix.

The Sauber man got up to second in the first part of the race at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, having opted not to stop for tyres.

However on the re-start - more than 2 hours later – and in drying conditions he was unable to maintain his position and disappointingly he eventually slipped back to seventh, passed on the line by Felipe Massa.

“We have scored points and in the end this is most important. We have proved we are good in the wet, but when the track became dry my pace wasn't good enough to defend my position,” Kobayashi admitted.

“Originally I qualified 13th so then it is not bad to finish seventh, but on the other hand I started second after the long red flag and looking from there the result is disappointing. I really tried to bring the car home in a better position, but it didn't work out.”

Sauber technical director James Key meanwhile had similar mixed feelings at the conclusion of the seventh round in the championship.

“Overall this has been a pretty tough weekend with mixed fortunes. After some difficult practice sessions we hoped for a better showing in the race, and overall that's what we got,” he added.

“It was a good call from the drivers and the team to initially stay out and gain some positions. Kamui held his positions pretty well after the re-start, and all looked fairly reasonable on wet tyres.

“The change to intermediates went pretty well for Kamui, but I think safety cars and the dry conditions in the end put us at a slight disadvantage with some quicker cars coming from behind, and Kamui couldn't really defend against some of them. Sadly we ended up seventh.

“There was the potential for a better result, but then we can't complain because we started further back.

“Overall Kamui did a fantastic job keeping it all together under pressure. To get piped by a couple of hundredths at the line in the end was rather unfortunate, but we collected six points.”

Join
the conversation - Add your comment

Although the administrators and moderators of this website will attempt to keep all objectionable comments off these pages, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the poster, and neither Crash Media Group nor Crash.Net will be held responsible for the content of any message. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. If you find a message objectionable, please contact us and inform us of the problem or use the [report] function next to the offending post. Any message that does not conform with the policy of this service can be edited or removed with immediate effect.